Bowditch, The new American practical navigator, 1802

BOWDITCH, NATHANIEL

1773-1838

The new American practical navigator. Newburyport: Edmund M. Blunt for Brown & Stansbury, 1802

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (225 x 132mm.), folding "Chart of the Atlantic Ocean" and 7 engraved plates (one partially hand-coloured), numerous diagrams and tables, contemporary sheep, folding chart and one plate repaired, some browning and staining, slightly worn and rebacked 

"This work is often termed the greatest book in all navigation history, and it is certainly the chief American contribution to the science of navigation." (Daniel Elliott, Maritime history, Providence, RI 2005, p.42). Variant issue, with the imprint "Newburyport (Mass), Edmund M. Blunt for Brown & Stansbury" and differing advertisements at end. No priority among the seven known variants of this first edition has been established.

LITERATURE:

Tomash & Williams B216; John F. Campbell, History and bibliography of the New American practical navigator and the American coast pilot(Salem, 1964), pp.75-78 no. 3; Shaw & Shoemaker 1936; cf. Karpinski pp.142-143 (listing 7 other issues)

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